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20-minute noodles · 18 minutes

Chili-Crisp Peanut Soba with Smashed Cucumber

Chili crisp goes straight into the peanut sauce, so every strand of cold soba gets crunch and heat, and salted smashed cucumber keeps it fresh.

Prep
8 min
Cook
10 min
Total
18 min
Serves
2
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VeganDairy-freeEgg-freeStovetop

Peanut noodles usually taste great for two bites and then go heavy. Two things fix that here. Chili crisp, stirred right into the sauce, brings heat and little crunchy bits of fried garlic and shallot. And smashed cucumbers, salted for ten minutes, bring a cold, watery snap that resets your palate between mouthfuls.

Soba is ideal because it’s meant to be eaten cold. Rinsing it well after cooking washes off the surface starch, so the sauce clings without gluing the noodles into a brick. It’s the rare noodle dish that’s better at room temperature, which makes it a good desk lunch the next day.

The recipe

Chili-Crisp Peanut Soba with Smashed Cucumber

Prep 8 min · Cook 10 min · Total 18 min · Serves 2

Ingredients

Tap to tick off as you go.

For the cucumber

For the sauce

For the noodles

Method

  1. Step 1: Smash the cucumbers

    Put a large pot of water on to boil. Lay the cucumbers on a board and press down firmly with the flat of a knife until they crack open. Tear into bite-size chunks, toss with the salt and leave in a strainer while you do everything else.

  2. Step 2: Whisk the sauce

    In a large bowl, whisk the peanut butter, chili crisp, soy sauce, vinegar, maple syrup, sesame oil and garlic. It will be very thick; that’s fine.

  3. Step 3: Cook the soba

    Boil the soba for 4–5 minutes, or a minute less than the package says. Scoop out ¼ cup of the cooking water and whisk it into the sauce until it’s pourable.

  4. Step 4: Rinse well

    Drain the soba and rinse under cold running water, rubbing the noodles between your hands, until the water runs clear and the noodles feel cool and slippery. Shake off as much water as you can.

  5. Step 5: Toss and finish

    Toss the noodles in the sauce. Shake the cucumbers dry, splash with the 1 tsp vinegar and pile on top with the scallions, peanuts, cilantro and an extra spoonful of chili crisp.

Good to know

  • Stir the chili crisp jar from the bottom before you measure. The crunchy bits sink, and the top is mostly oil.
  • Don’t skip the rinse. Unrinsed soba turns gummy within minutes and clumps in the sauce.
  • If the sauce tightens up as it sits, loosen it with a spoonful of cold water, not more peanut butter.

Swaps

Soba and soy sauce
Make it gluten-free: 100% buckwheat soba (most soba contains wheat) and tamari
Peanut butter
Tahini or sunflower seed butter, with toasted sunflower seeds on top instead of peanuts
Persian cucumbers
Thinly sliced radishes or shredded cabbage, salted the same way

Questions people ask

Is soba gluten-free?

Not usually. Most soba is a blend of buckwheat and wheat flour; only noodles labeled 100% buckwheat (juwari soba) are gluten-free.

Is chili crisp vegan?

Many are, including most versions made from chili, oil, garlic and shallot, but some brands add dried shrimp, fish or beef. Check the ingredient list.

Should you rinse soba noodles?

Yes. Rinsing soba in cold water removes the surface starch, stops the cooking and keeps the noodles from sticking together.

Get the cucumber, scallions and garlic from a farmer.

This recipe is only as good as what goes in it. Find a farmers market or CSA farm near you, or get a produce box delivered when there’s no market this week.

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